Today in History : Syria surrender to Crusaders, Chicago found

1829 Britain outlaws "suttee" in India (widow burning herself to death on her husband's funeral pyre)
1832 French army begins bombing citadel of Antwerp
1833 American Anti-Slavery Society formed by Arthur Tappan in Philadelphia
1836 Whig party holds its first national convention, Harrisburg, Pa
1843 Manila paper (made from sails, canvas & rope) patented, Mass
1843 Robert Schumann's "Das Paradies und die Peri" premieres in Leipzig
1851 Pres Louis Napoleon Boaparte's forces crush an attempted coup d'etat in France
1863 Storm flood ravages Netherlands coastal provinces
1864 Battle of Waynesborough (Brier Creek) GA
1864 Romanian Jews are forbidden to practice law
1867 Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange).
1872 Ship the Mary Celeste is discovered mysteriously abandoned by her crew in the Atlantic Ocean
1881 The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.
1889 Stanley's expedition reaches Bagamoyo in Indian Ocean
1899 56th Congress (1899-1901) convenes
1899 Webb Hayes, son of US President Rutherford Hayes, receives medal of honor
1901 Anne Russell's 'Girl and the judge' premieres in NYC
1906 Alpha Phi Alpha, first Black Greek Letter Fraternity, forms
1908 Haiti's president General Alexis Nord flees from military coup
1908 The world's ten leading maritime nations attend a Naval Conference in London; they agree on rules for blockade, convoys, and seizure of contraband
1909 1st CFL Grey Cup: University of Toronto defeats Toronto Parkdale, 26-6

1915 F F Fletcher is first US admiral to receive Congressional Medal of Honor
1915 Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County, Ga
1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition closes in San Francisco

1920 1st Pro football playoff game Buffalo-7, Canton-3 at Polo Grounds
1920 8th CFL Grey Cup: U of Toronto defeats Toronto Argonauts, 16-3
1921 The Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle ends in a hung jury.
1922 Lucille Atcherson, becomes first woman legation sect-US foreign service

1927 Pirates Paul Waner wins NL MVP
1928 Walter Donaldson & Gus Kahn's musical "Whoopee" premieres in NYC
1930 Vatican approves rhythm method for birth control
1931 "Frankenstein" opens at Mayfair

1933 Jack Kirkland's "Tobacco Road" premieres in NYC
1935 1,200 at St Joseph's College (Philadelphia) enroll in anticommunism class
1941 Nazi ordinance places Jews of Poland outside protection of courts
1942 First US citizenship granted to an alien on foreign soil (James Hoey)
1942 FDR orders dismantling of Works Progress Administration
1942 US bombers struck Italian mainland for first time in WW II
1942 Holocaust: In Warsaw, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Filipowicz set up the Żegota organization.
1943 -Dec 6] 2nd conference of Cairo: FDR, Winston Churchill & Turkish president İsmet İnönü
1943 Commissioner Landis announces any baseball club may sign Negroes
1943 Yugoslavian resistance forms provisionary government under Dr Ribar
1944 Germans destroy Rhine dikes, Betuwe flooded
1945 11th Heisman Trophy Award: Doc Blanchard, Army (FB)
1945 Senate approves US participation in United Nations
1947 USSR joins International Amateur Athletic Union
1948 "Magdalena" closes at Ziegfeld Theater, NYC, after 48 performances
1948 SS Kiangya hits mine in Whangpoo River, China, sinks killing 2,750 die
1948 13th Iron Bowl (first since 1907): Alabama beats Auburn 55-0 in Birmingham
1949 Bob Gage ties NFL record of a 97 yard touchdown run
1949 Duncan Stewart, 2nd British Governor of Sarawak is fatally stabbed in the streets of Sibu by Malay student Rosli Dhoby with help from Morshidi Sidek with the goal of helping neighbouring Indonesia to take over British Sarawak

1951 Superheated gasses roll down Mount Catarman, Philippines, killing 500 people
1951 Mir Waiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusouf is appointed President of Azad Kashmir Government.
1952 Killer fogs begin in London, England; "Smog" becomes a word
1952 Walter P Reuther chosen chairman of CIO
1954 "Hit the Trail" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 4 performances
1954 "On Your Toes" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 64 performances
1954 The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, USA
1955 Mgr Alfrink installed as Archbishop of Utrecht
1956 22nd Heisman Trophy Award: Paul Hornung, Notre Dame (QB)
1957 First edition of "Chase's Annual Events" published
1957 2 commuter trains collide in heavy fog killing 92 (St John's, England)
1958 Dahomey (Benin), Ivory Coast become autonomous within French Community
1958 Finnish government of Fagerholm resigns

1961 Smallest NY Knick, 49th St Madison Square Garden crowd-1,300 (snowstorm)
1961 Tanganyika becomes 104th member of UN
1961 WXGA TV channel 8 in Waycross, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1961 The female contraceptive 'pill' becomes available on the National Health Service in Britain
1961 1962 NFL Draft: Ernie Davis from University of Syracuse first pick by Washington Redskins
1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 Pope Paul VI closes 2nd session of 2nd Vatican Council
1964 Baseball approves a free-agent draft
1964 Beatles release "Beatles For Sale" album
1964 Commissioner's office given full powers in baseball disputes
1964 Test Cricket debut of Ian Chappell, v Pakistan MCG, 11, 0-49, 0-31
1965 "Roar of the Greasepaint" closes at Shubert NYC after 232 performances
1965 2 passenger planes collide above Danbury, Conn, 4 die
1965 2nd NY Knick game postponed (due to death of opponent 76ers' owner)
1965 Gemini 7 (Borman & Lovell) launched
1965 SF Giant Masanori Murakami, 4-1 this year, does not renew his contract signing instead with the Nankai Hawks of Osaka for $40,000
1966 KETS TV channel 2 in Little Rock, AR (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Pensacola Ladies Golf Invitational
1968 Following a civil rights march in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, there is a violent clash between Loyalists and those who are taking part in the march
1970 Unemployment in US increases to 5.8%
1971 The UN Security Council calls an emergency session to consider the deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan.
1971 The Indian Navy attacks the Pakistan Navy and Karachi.
1971 McGurk's Bar bombing: the UVF explode a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, killing fifteen Catholic civilians and wounding seventeen others; this was the highest death toll from a single incident in Belfast during 'the Troubles'
1974 Dutch DC-8 charter crashes in Sri Lanka killing 191 Muslim pilgrims
1977 66th Davis Cup: Australia beats Italy in Sydney (3-1)
1978 Dianne Feinstein is named as San Francisco's 1st female & Jewish mayor
1978 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten freed
1978 Pioneer Venus 1 goes into orbit around Venus
1979 Cleveland Cavaliers retire jersey # 7, Bingo Smith
1980 2 months after death of drummer John Bonham, Led Zeppelin breaks up
1980 Islanders end 15 game undefeated streak (13-0-2) (Col Rockies)
1981 "Falcon Crest" premieres on CBS-TV
1981 According to South Africa, Ciskei gains independence Not recognized as an independent country outside South Africa
1982 48th Heisman Trophy Award: Herschel Walker, Georgia (RB)
1982 China adopts its constitution
1982 Police & racist demonstrators clash in Antwerp
1983 "Amen Corner" closes at Nederlander Theater NYC after 83 performances
1983 "Baby" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 241 performances
1983 David Shire & R Maltby Jr's musical "Baby" premieres in NYC
1983 NJ Devils 1st shut-out, beating Minnesota Detroit Red Wings 6-0
1983 US jet fighters strike Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon
1984 Hezbollah militants hijack a Kuwait Airlines plane, killing four passengers.
1985 President Reagan appoints Vice Adm John Poindexter as security adviser
1986 NASA launches Fltsatcom-7
1986 Neil Simon's "Broadway Bound" premieres in NYC
1987 Karlstad skates world record 10 km (13:48.51)
1988 Actor Gary Busey critically injured in motorcycle crash
1988 Amy Benz/John Huston wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1988 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1989 NBC's premiere of "Howard Beach: Making A Case for Murder", based on December 1986 murders of black youths by white youths in New York City
1990 Due to Persian Gulf crisis gas hits $1.60 per gallon price in NYC
1990 Iraq announces it will release all 3,300 Soviet hostages
1990 An Iraqi official reports that Iraq will withdraw if it can retain control of the Rumailah field and keep Bubiyan and Werbah islands; also says that demands that the Palestinian issue be treated separately would not be surmountable
1991 Judds final concert (Nashville)
1991 Muslim Shi'ites release last US hostage Terry Anderson (held 6½ years)
1991 Pan American World Airways ceased operations
1991 Patricia Bowman testifies that William Kennedy Smith raped her
1993 Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (35.92 sec)
1993 Johann Koss skates world record 5K (6:35.53)
1993 A truce is concluded between the government of Angola and UNITA rebels.
1993 2nd SEC Championship Game: #9 Florida beats #16 Alabama, 28-13
1994 "Angels in America-Perestroika" closes at W Kerr NYC after 216 performances
1994 "Angels in America-Millennium Approach" closes at Kerr after 367 performances
1994 83rd Davis Cup: Sweden beats Russia in Moscow (4-1)
1994 Marta Figueras-Dottie/Brad Bryant wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1995 Atherton (185*) bats for 643 minutes to save Johannesburg Test
1996 NASA's 1st Mars rover launched from Cape Canaveral
1996 Orlando Magic tie NBA record of fewest ponts scored since inception of 24 second clock losing to Cleveland Cavalier, 84-57
1997 "Diary of Anne Frank" opens at Music Box Theater NYC
1997 NBA suspends Latrell Sprewell for 1 year for attacking his coach
1997 Nizar Hamdoon warns that Iraq will not allow oil to flow during a third six-month phase of the UN's oil-for-food sale until the UN approves an aid distribution plan
1998 The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
1999 8th SEC Championship Game: #7 Alabama beats #5 Florida, 34-7
2004 13th SEC Championship Game: #3 Auburn beats #15 Tennessee, 38-28
2005 Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the Government to allow universal and equal suffrage.
2005 94th Davis Cup: Croatia beats Slovak Republic in Bratislava (3-2)
2006 An adult giant squid is caught on video by Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo.
2010 19th SEC Championship Game: #2 Auburn beats #18 South Carolina, 56-17
2010 6th ACC Championship Game: #12 Virginia Tech beats #20 Florida State, 44-33
2010 15th Big 12 Championship Game: #10 Oklahoma beats #13 Nebraska, 23-20
2011 100th Davis Cup: Spain beats Argentina in Seville (3-1)
2012 29 people are killed by a mortar attack in Bteeha, Syria
2012 Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines killing at least 81 people
2013 Xavier Bettel becomes Luxenberg's first openly gay Prime Minister
2014 The United Nations warns that the world is on course for the warmest year since records began
2014 Ukraine and Pro-Russian rebels agree to cease fire in the eastern war zone, beginning December 9
2014 US authorities promise a "fair" investigation into the death of African American Eric Garner, after a white New York City police officer held him in a choke-hold faces no charges
2015 Floods in Chennai and Tamil Nadu state, India start receding after a month of heavy rainfall, leaving more 260 dead and thousands stranded